


The New Middle-Class Married Life

by DesertVixen



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: A Thing About Couches, Canon Compliant, F/M, Harlequin-level Romantic Content, Married Couple, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-09 23:15:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7821052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A slice-of-married-life story for Kou and Drou.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The New Middle-Class Married Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roseveare](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseveare/gifts).



Koudelka stood in the doorway, watching his wife lean over to kiss their two young daughters farewell. Delia, the oldest at four, was fighting sleep valiantly – watching their mother getting dressed for formal events never failed to fascinate the little girl – while her younger sister was already fast asleep next to her. 

He thoroughly enjoyed moments like this, seeing the two blonde heads bent together as Delia whispered something in Drou’s ear that made her smile. Drou pulled out one of the dark blue flowers she wore pinned in her hair, tucking it behind Delia’s ear before giving her a final kiss, then walked over to him. 

The dark blue evening dress she wore was coordinated to match his parade red-and-blues, and she looked stunning in it. It wasn’t as elaborate as current fashion decreed, but his wife followed Lady Alys’s advice on fashion, and only wore simply-cut styles that showed her figure off to perfection. She was tall and magnificent, like an ancient warrior maiden - and she was all his, he thought with satisfaction.

They pulled the door closed, and headed down to wait for the car being sent by the Regent to take them to the evening’s engagement at the Imperial Residence. 

It still seemed strange to Kou that by this time tomorrow, there would be three small girls in the Koudelka nursery instead of two. This third daughter had grown inside a uterine replicator, rather than in her mother’s body. Tomorrow, they would go to the medical facility and open the replicator. Cordelia Vorkosigan had assured the two of them that she would be there, although she kept reassuring them that if they could open a picnic cooler, they would be fine.

The uterine replicator was one of the changes that had come to Barrayar during the ten years of the Regency. Cordelia had hoped that more Barrayarans would adopt the use of uterine replicators, but there was still quite a bit of resistance. Her own son Miles had been the first Barrayaran child to be born from one, but even she had to admit that he was hardly an advertisement for the technology, due to the damage he had sustained before he was placed in the replicator.

Growing tired of waiting for Vor husbands to become more receptive to the technology that could guarantee them a healthy first-born son for their heir, Cordelia had turned to the Koudelkas to act as an example to the rising middle class. After a rather rough second pregnancy, Drou had not taken too much convincing.

It was not the first time that they had made decisions about their family based on outside influences, having waited for five years to have children. Drou had felt that it was better to wait until Gregor was about to leave for his military prep school, in order for her to focus on helping provide him with some much needed stability. Drou had been with him from the time he was a toddler, first as his mother’s bodyguard and later as one of his personal attendants. Kou had agreed with her, as his own position with the Regent kept him quite busy. 

Looking back, they both agreed it had been the right decision, although now he wouldn’t trade his family for anything in the world. 

*** 

It was late when they came home, both a little flushed with celebratory drinks. Kou opened the door of his home office, intending to read over a document he and the Regent had discussed amending. Work was never done when Aral Vorkosigan was your boss. Once he had made the change and forwarded both versions of the document to the Regent’s office, he looked up and saw his wife leaning back on the couch he kept in there. She had started to take down her hair, shedding blue petals on the floor as she ran her fingers through the blonde waves. 

“Finished?” She smiled at him, a warm reckless smile that had him dimming the lights and joining her on the couch.

“With work? Yes.” He bent his head and kissed her, pulling her against him. When they finally drew apart, he leaned his forehead against hers. “With you? Never.”

She sighed, then undid the top fastener on his uniform jacket. Then another. “Maybe we should lock the door.”

“That means I would have to get up,” he said, and waited for her to shift slightly.

They had a thing for couches, Drou thought with a smile as she watched him cross the room. It was, of course, why he kept one in the office. Their completely disastrous first time had been on a couch, and for some time after they had married, they had avoided them. After the honeymoon period, however, Kou’s work had kept him trapped in the office, too tired to do much of anything when he finally did come to bed.

So she had decided to ambush him late one evening. He might have needed an extra hour or so in the office afterwards, but they had both been happy when she had walked out of the room. 

It had been easier when there had been no children, but they still managed now. Their domestic help had to be screened by ImpSec, but Kou found that made them a little more reliable. 

When he rejoined her, Drou snuggled against him, feeling his hand drift down over her neck and back, searching for the fastener on her dress. One of the things she loved about him was how he made her feel desirable, even dainty. She was taller and stronger than the average woman, a fact that had often made her feel self-conscious. But with his hands sliding over her bare skin, and his lips joining them, she forgot to feel anything except pleasure. 

She knew her husband had his own insecurities, thanks to the nerve injuries he had sustained under Admiral Vorkosigan’s command, and she enjoyed reminding him that he was as fit as any other Barrayaran man. She loved hearing him whisper her name as she touched him exactly right, loved kissing him until he couldn’t say anything more. Sometimes, she still couldn’t believe that they had been lucky enough to find each other and hold on.

Later, once they had caught their breath, Drou grinned. “We wouldn’t have been able to manage that nine months along, the old-fashioned way.”

“We would have managed something,” he said, grinning right back at her. 

*** 

Cordelia and Aral were waiting for them at the medical center, as well as Kou’s mother, Drou’s father, and one of her brothers. Their parents had refrained from making any criticism of this choice, but Drou was sure that they had reservations. Delia and Martya helped lighten the mood, demanding piggyback rides from her brother while they waited for the doctor to take their group back.

She and Kou had come to see their daughter before, of course. There had been checkups, just as there had been with her first two pregnancies, only these checkups involved the doctors discussing data from the replicators rather than examining her.

When they went to stand by the replicator, Drou caught Cordelia’s eye. The older woman smiled warmly at her, nodding in approval as they lifted the latches. The doctor did the necessary work of removing the baby girl from the replicator, and Drou felt quite strange just standing there. She let her hand brush against Kou’s, and felt him grab it fiercely as they waited for what seemed an impossibly long moment, until the baby girl let out a long, loud wail.

It seemed another age until the doctors finally put the blanket-wrapped baby into her arms, and Drou looked down into her third daughter’s face. 

“Olivia,” Drou said softly. They had discussed several names, but somehow that one seemed perfect for the baby she held. It felt strange still, to not be tired or in pain from labor, but it was wonderful to be able to focus just on the baby she held.

“Olivia,” Kou echoed from beside her. “Our daughter.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I hope you enjoyed this! I do like writing for this couple, even if the story didn't go exactly where I thought it would go. I hope this scratches your itch for the missing years (and yes, I was thinking about the scene in ACC with The Couch while I was writing this!).
> 
> I apologize in advance, but titles are not my thing.
> 
> Credit to the Vorkosigan Wiki for helping me not make a major mistake in the story.


End file.
